Biden to Focus on ‘Freedom’ in State of the Union

“When President Joe Biden launched his campaign last April, the first word he uttered was ‘Freedom.’ As he gives his most important speech as a candidate for re-election Thursday night, the president will return to the theme as a key pillar in making his case to the country,” NBC News reports.

“Biden will do so quite starkly, once again leaning on the example of one of his iconic predecessors. As the 46th president addresses the 118th Congress, he will invoke the 32nd president’s address to the 77th Congress, according to a copy of the speech that was visible in a photo his office published on X. In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt said he was speaking at an ‘unprecedented moment’ in American history — months before the United States would join World War II with the Great Depression still fresh in mind.”

“The Biden team’s focus on freedom and threats to democracy as a defining electoral issue has often invited criticism from allies, at a time when Americans’ perceptions of the economy, and of the 81-year-old president himself, are also expected to dominate the months ahead.”